SLEEPWALKING IN DAYLIGHT

Author: Elizabeth FLock ISBN: 9780778325130 3/2009 FICTION Publisher: MIRA

Once defined by her career and independence, stay-at-home mom Samantha Friedman's days have been reduced to errands, car pools and suburban gossip. What was an easy decision for Sam years ago has become a nagging awareness that this life was her choice. Now she deals with a husband who shows up for dinner but is too preoccupied for conversation, and a daughter swathed in black clothing and goth makeup who won't talk at all. Believing she's an adopted mistake, seventeen-year-old Cammy has fallen into sex and drugs, and pours herself into a journal filled with poetry and pain. On parallel paths, mother and daughter indulge in desperate, furtive escapism—for Sam, a heady affair with her supposed soul mate, fueled by clandestine coffee dates and the desire to feel something; for Cammy, a secretive search for her birth mother punctuated by pills, pot and the need to feel absolutely nothing.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Have you ever read a book that affected you deeply but was not really pleasant reading? Something that made you think, but did not amuse or entertain you? That’s exactly how I feel after reading Elizabeth Flock’s SLEEPWALKING IN DAYLIGHT. The story is emotionally gripping and haunting, but I feel completely wrung out.

Samantha is a woman whose family is like many others. Young boys who tote shin guards and eat on the run. A husband who doesn’t remember his wife is in the room when he turns out the lights and leaves her there. And she has a daughter who is battling the turbulent teen years. Unfortunately for Cammy, the battle is being lost and the result will have drastic ramifications for the rest of Samantha’s not-so-happy family.

Ms. Flock delivers an evocative story which will remain in this reader’s mind for a long time. While I can’t say I want to read it again, I will say that I am glad that I did read it. Very moving, this is a no-holds-barred look at life, love and the tragedies that happen in even the most seemingly “normal” families.

Kay James